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5 Reasons Why the IRS Scandal Will Haunt Democrats in 2014

Whether it's tapping into journalists e-mail accounts and phone lines, coverups in Benghazi, or shaking down insurance companies to force contributions to Obamacare, this administration has certainly run into a fair share of damaging scandals over the last several weeks.

But there is one scandal in particular that will have a devastating impact on the Democrat party as a brand, and will negatively impact their party's performance in 2014 - the IRS investigations.

Here are five reasons why...

Example of Out of Control Government

Perhaps there is no bigger demonstration of a government agency so out of control that they no longer adhere to fundamental democratic values, than in the following clip involving former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.

The clip shows Ohio Republican Mike Turner repeatedly asking Shulman if he agrees that targeting groups based on their political beliefs fails to "represent our democratic values".

Shulman, despite Turner's best efforts and multiple attempts, is unable to answer the question.

Mr. Shulman is unable or unwilling to admit that asking a group what books they are reading, what their members were thinking, or the content of their member's prayers, and subsequently making tax decisions based on that line of questioning, is wholly un-Democratic.

Who else finds this overreach of government, perhaps reflected in the IRS scandal itself, to be out of control? Pretty much everybody.

A recent Fox News poll indicates that over two-thirds of voters feel that the government is uncontrollable and threatening their civil liberties. The political breakdown includes a wide spectrum of respondents, and not just the usual suspects. Nearly a full 50% of Democrats agree with that sentiment, meaning half of Democrat voters are in tune with the very basic premise of the Tea Party itself - that the government has become too big, and too powerful, to properly adhere to and maintain Democratic values.

So if a plurality of Americans believe that targeting conservatives because of their political beliefs is an example of sprawling government, who exactly thought this would be a good idea?

Democrat Senators Requested Tea Party Investigations

Shortly after the scandal had been revealed, the Daily Caller reported that a group of Democratic senators led by New York's Chuck Schumer, had urged the IRS to target the Tea Party in 2012.

Last year, Schumer, along with Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken, penned a letter calling on the agency to cap the amount of the political spending by groups masquerading as “social welfare organizations.”

Of those senators, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Al Franken of Minnesota are all up for reelection in 2014. With the exception of Udall, many of these senators endured a tight campaign in 2008, and have aligned themselves on the wrong side of an issue that two-thirds of Americans disagree with.

Additionally, some Democrats seem to understand that they are on the wrong side of this issue, distancing themselves from any mention of the White House, drilling the IRS on the perceived incompetency of low-level agency employees, and criticizing their Republican colleagues for fabricating links to the White House.

Not to mention, they're partaking in active investigations into the scandal. Of particular note is Max Baucus, the man who specifically asked the IRS to crack down on Tea Party organizations, who is now heading an investigation as to why they might have done so.

Democrats realize they're on the wrong side of this issue politically, but do they realize they're on the wrong side of the American public in general?

All Sides Relate

It's the IRS for crying out loud. It's death and taxes, the audit, a feared entity to the average American. Or as Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly explains, they are the monster under the bed.

“I have a grandson who’s afraid to get out of bed at night because he thinks there’s someone under the bed that’s going to grab him. And I think most Americans feel that way about the IRS.”

That speech earned Kelly a standing ovation, but it underscores a very underrated fallout from the IRS scandal - that people relate.

Not just Tea Party conservatives, but Republicans, Democrats, Independents, or even people who share little interest in politics. Everyone can relate to being hounded by a government organization such as the IRS, and the fear it elicits.

This scandal has done something that didn't seem possible just a few short weeks ago. It has created sympathy for the Tea Party, sympathy that threatens to tear down the media and Democrat narrative that has marginalized the group since their powerful impact on the 2010 elections.

Resurgence of the Tea Party

Very recent polling shows that favorability ratings for the victimized Tea Party have increased sharply, up 14 percentage points since January. With 44% of respondents viewing the Tea Party in a positive light, the group enjoys numbers only 7 percentage points below their peak in April of 2009, when they had their greatest impact.

Perhaps more importantly, these conservative groups are seeing an uptick in support from Republicans, from 61 to 80%. Meaning, nearly 20% of Republican voters look at the freedom loving group less as Wacko birds, and more as a legitimate brand.

And with legitimacy and favorability comes...

Money

This is actually a two-pronged consequence of the scandal.

While Democrats have tried to distance themselves from the issue, they will no doubt have to answer for the over $700,000 that their campaigns have taken in from the IRS.

As the NRCC reports, numerous Democrats and their PACs have received campaign contributions from the National Treasury Employees Union which represents IRS employees. This fact prompted NRCC Spokeswoman Andrea Bozek to quip, "No wonder Democrats want higher taxes – their campaigns are funded by the IRS."

The group has since demanded that House Democrats "give back their tainted IRS cash".

Aside from possibly (and by possibly, I mean fat chance) having to return IRS contributions, Tea Party organizations have seen sympathy for their plight turn into monetary treasure.

"I really do believe that one of the most important factors that caused Republicans to lose the House in 2006 was Hurricane Katrina. It played into what voters felt about Republicans — that they don’t care and that they don’t care about government."

The IRS scandal “plays into what people think about Democrats, that we like big government. … It makes it harder to play in Republican districts.”

For now, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats all seem to agree that targeting the Tea Party was an example of big government corruption gone wild.

Arizona's civil asset forfeiture laws lack any real protections for law-abiding citizens and their property. In direct contradiction with the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which guarantee the right of due process, the property owner, who may never be charged with a crime, bears the burden to prove that his property is innocent before he can get it back. That is why the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of Arizona's forfeiture laws.

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Democracy and Power 112: Fidelity to Leadership
To be elected, a politician must please his or her constituents. However, to be a powerful legislative force, a politician must be an obedient member of a party – Democrat or Republican.

Democracy and Power 103: Government Money
The money taxed and spent by the politicians comes from the labor and ingenuity of millions of working persons. Politicians spend other peoples’ money. The politician transfers money from productive people to favored special interest groups.

Senate Democrats recently tried to push through a constitutional amendment that would have repealed free speech protections in the First Amendment, making Congress the sole arbiter of what is and isn't political speech. Thankfully, this effort, backed by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) failed to get the two-thirds needed for a constitutional majority, killing the proposed amendment for the remainder of the 113th Congress.

Lois Lerner really doesn't want to answer questions about her role in the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative and Tea Party organizations. The former head of the powerful tax agency's Exempt Organization Division refused to testify in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in May 2013, invoking her Fifth Amendment rights.

As one of our over 6.6 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to vote NO on S.J. Res. 19, a proposed Constitutional amendment that would enshrine into law the government’s ability to restrict political free speech. Sponsored by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and co-sponsored by 48 of his colleagues, this amendment would take the unprecedented step of amending Americans’ First Amendment rights.

This Independence Day, millions of Americans will gather to watch fireworks, grill some burgers and dogs, and celebrate the hard-fought freedoms of our forefathers. But in the heady rush of red, white, and blue patriotism, it’s important to remember what those freedoms actually mean, and to examine whether they still remain intact today.